ABS-CBN may be back on air by first week of June – Cayetano

MANILA, Philippines — Media network giant ABS-CBN may be back on air by the first week of June, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday after the lower chamber approved on second reading a bill granting the broadcasting firm provisional franchise until the end of October 2020. 

“If everything goes well, God willing, Monday matapos naming (we finish) on final reading, Tuesday nasa Senado (to the Senate). Kung kaya ng Senado (If the Senate can do it) one week, the week after next, latest first week ng (of) June, on the air na lit (again),” Cayetano said in an interview with radio station DZMM. 

The House of Representatives still has to approve House Bill No. 6732 or “An Act Granting the ABS-CBN Corporation A Franchise to Construct, Install, Operate and Maintain Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations in the Philippines, and For Other Purposes” on third and final reading before it is transmitted to the Senate. 

Franchise bills must first be approved by the House before it can be tackled on the Senate floor.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has said that the upper chamber will act “expeditiously” to pass the ABS-CBN provisional franchise bill. 

Once approved by the Senate, both chambers have to ratify the bill before it is transmitted to the President for signing.

But will President Rodrigo Duterte approve the bill? Cayetano said he does not see any indication that Duterte will veto the measure. 

“I cannot speak for him but since sabi ng spokesman niya ay (the spokesman said he’s) neutral at (and) since nasabi niyang napatawad niya (he said he had already forgiven) ABS and ang ating Pangulo po ay abogado (our President is a lawyer). Kung ako ang tanungin niya, ang sasabihin ko ‘Sir, pang ano lang ‘to eh, pang-due process’ (If he would ask me, I would say, ‘Sir, this will only be just for due process’),” Cayetano said.

Broadcast operation of ABS-CBN was shut down on May 5 after its franchise expired on May 4 upon the order of the National Telecommunications Commission. 

The 11 bills seeking the renewal of franchise of ABS-CBN remain pending before the House committee on legislative franchises, the earliest of which, at least in the 18th Congress, was filed in July 2019.

KGA